Chapter 27: An Explosive Reunion
"Who's Smaug?" Lucy asked.
Natsu continued flying with Lisanna and Mirajane beside him as he explained. "He's a Fire Dragon like me. He's my dad's rival…or was, I guess."
Mira offered a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry. So you haven't seen him in a long time, huh?"
"Not since before I got my wings." he replied. "Smaug didn't visit very often. My mother and father were always pretty reluctant to let him near me."
"Why?" Lisanna tilted her head.
Natsu smirked. "That old devil…he's a real beast. He's insanely strong and I guess he's a bit of a loose cannon. My parents were always wary of him because they thought he was gonna kill me."
"Well geez, if I had a kid, I'd be worried about a dragon like that being around them, too." Lucy remarked. "But you're still here, so I guess your parents kept you safe, right?"
"Nah. Smaug wasn't ever gonna kill me." Natsu assured.
"What makes you say that?" Lisanna asked.
The Fire Drake grinned. "He had plenty of chances, but never did. Plus he told me that he just likes being seen as a badass killer dragon. I guess Smaug was kinda complicated like that, huh? Hahahaha!"
Lucy sweat-dropped. "Is this guy dangerous, or not?"
Mira frowned. "Well, he might be friendly to you, but what about us?"
"Eh…" Natsu thought about that for a second and muttered. "Not sure."
"Not the most comforting thing I've heard all day." Lisanna decided.
"Can you tell how far away he is?" Mira asked.
Natsu sniffed the air. "Not far. I think he's searching the territory for something."
"What could he be searching for here?" Lucy wondered.
"Most likely?" the Flame Drake clenched his talons. "Me."
Smaug flew on, not sure where to look, but he searched for any sign of the young dragon he'd been trying to find since news came of Acnologia's attack on Igneel and his family. He had sworn to the other dragons at the Flame Capitol that he would return with Igneel's son, or not at all. More importantly, he also happened to be the best tracker and hunter among at LEAST the Fire Dragons.
If anyone could find Natsu, he could. Smaug had found what was believed to be gone forever, once before.
With an irritated snarl, he shook off that last, unpleasant thought. Of course, the knowledge that humans had possessed one of Natsu's scales made his tracking methods a bit violent, but he had believed that the young dragon may have been killed by them. It was natural for him to throttle humans, he reasoned.
If Natsu's made it this far, he must be alive…
He decided to get a feel for the surrounding area by flying upwards, where he could see places that Natsu might be. So he flew with all his might to the blue of the sky, stopping only when he could see vast darkness peeking through the blue.
At his peak in the stratosphere, Smaug flared his wings out and just hovered over the vast, unknown continent. Mountains, forests, rivers, lakes, deserts, even frozen wastelands and a volcano…it was all there. Countless places for dragons to hide.
He growled in annoyance. This might take a while longer than he thought.
But as he watched, Smaug's sharp eyes picked out movement below, not far from where he'd been flying earlier. With the size of the objects, of which he counted three, he knew they must be dragons. The one in the middle, in fact…was crimson red.
If I've got any luck, I'd like to use it now!
With a bellow, Smaug went straight into free fall, diving at the three dragons so he wouldn't lose them. His pale orange eyes locked onto his target and didn't waver even a millimeter. The closer he got, the more excited Smaug became.
The red dragon he saw had the curved horns of an adolescent drake. His claws were pitch-black, his scales the color of flames. Every detail Smaug saw had his blood boiling more and more-
The salmon colored flames on the side of the young dragon's neck became visible to him.
Smaug couldn't resist roaring in triumph.
"Naaatsuuuu!"
The three dragons below stopped dead and whipped their heads straight up. The two white colored ones on the sides immediately backed up several meters, but the crimson drake bared his fangs in an almost crazed grin-
"I KNEW IT!"
Smaug roared again, not slowing his free fall until the very last moment when he was face to face with the young Fire Drake he'd been searching so long for. Natsu roared in return and flew giddily in a circle around the larger dragon, grinning from ear to ear. He finally came to a hover before Smaug's victorious gaze.
"It's been forever, old man!" Natsu exclaimed.
"You damn brat! You had me searching over every corner of the bloody planet!" Smaug chuckled. He bared his teeth smugly. "I knew Igneel's family was just too stubborn to be wiped out so easily. You're a sight for sore eyes, boy. I'm glad you're alive."
Natsu smiled happily. "So am I!"
"Um…"
Smaug blinked as the two dragons who'd been with Natsu hesitantly approached them. They looked very similar, but one had black feathers and the other had stripes like a tiger similar to his own. He identified both as dragonelles- almost definitely sisters in his eyes.
"Oh, right!" Natsu glanced at the pair in turn. "These are my friends! Lisanna has the stripes, Mira's the one with the dark wings."
"It's nice to meet you…I think?" Lisanna gulped.
Mira also looked a bit uneasy. "Sorry, Natsu, but…he's a lot- a lot- bigger than we anticipated…"
"Don't worry, he's harmless." Natsu shrugged off.
Smaug glanced at the young drake sharply. "Harmless, eh?"
Natsu seemed to recognize that the elder dragon wasn't about to let that one off so easily. He grinned ferociously. "Lisanna, mind grabbing Lucy for me? She's not gonna wanna be a part of this."
Smaug raised a scaled eyebrow. "Lucy? Who is-"
His jaw just about fell off when he saw Lisanna delicately pick up a human female off of Natsu's back. How had he not seen that?
"…Damn. You've become a human pet over these last years…" Smaug growled.
Natsu's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"
"You let a human on your back while it's still breathing?" Smaug's upper lip curled in a sneer. "Does it feed you and caress you as well? Pet dragon."
"What was that?" Natsu snarled.
Lisanna and Mira backed up, but not before Lisanna pointed out something important. "Uh, Natsu…you..do realize that he's…well, twice as big as you are, right? Fighting him is..it's suicide…"
That may have been an understatement.
Even though Natsu had grown immense over the last seven years, Smaug was gargantuan. Nearly a hundred feet long, with some bones thicker than tree trunks and scales tough as armor, but laced with the scars of past battles. Although he had no front arms, his wings were huge enough to blot out the sun, and three talons on each wing acted as hands for the giant drake. He had three rows of spikes on the end of his whiplike tail and spines protruding from the base of his skull. Teeth the size of swords and flickering fire breath wrapped up the drake into a living weapon of mass destruction.
Smaug snorted out burning sulfur. "Prove that you haven't gone soft. Show me that you can match the title of Igneel's son. If you don't live up to my expectations, I may just kill you."
"Not even Acnologia managed to kill me, old dragon." Natsu hissed. "And that insult about being a human pet…I'm not letting that one slide. I'll give you a new scar before this is over, I promise."
"I'd expect nothing less."
The dragons hovered silently, staring each other down to see who would make the first move.
"GROOAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
The two drakes roared at full force and lunged, ramming their skulls together head-on. After an instant, Natsu was blown away by Smaug's overpowering size advantage. The smaller drake let loose a blast of fire that smote his opponent's face in retaliation.
Smaug flew clean through and crashed his massive head right into Natsu's chest, crushing the wind out of him. Natsu choked and instinctively dove, escaping the line of attack, but put himself in the path of Smaug's massive taloned feet.
With a roar, Smaug grabbed Natsu by the shoulders with his claws like a hawk captures a smaller bird. Natsu snarled and tried to wriggle free, but Smaug sucked in a swift breath and released his opponent just in time to fire an explosive fireball at the younger dragon.
Natsu was stunned momentarily by the force of the blast, but he recovered quickly and righted himself in midair, glaring back up where Smaug hovered patiently.
The giant dragon stared down at him with a piercing look in his glowing orange eyes.
Natsu wasn't fazed. He bared his fangs and let out a ferocious hiss. I've got to conquer you before I can kill Acnologia…
He used his greater speed to his advantage and flew above Smaug in a crimson blur, then made rapid circles around the larger dragon. Smaug watched him carefully, but growled a challenge.
Natsu unleashed a full payload of dragon breath, dousing his opponent in a torrent of flames. Smaug didn't move in the slightest, but snarled mockingly. "How kind of you to warm my scales, little dragon…"
But there was meaning behind the harmless fire and that was what Natsu took advantage of next. While Smaug had lost sight of Natsu behind the flames, the smaller dragon stopped the onslaught to rise above the elder and dive down onto Smaug's back, slashing with tooth and claw.
The dragon roared and whipped his tail forward like a scorpion's, slamming the huge spikes into Natsu with enough force to make the smaller dragon yelp in pain. Natsu shook off the injury quickly though and retreated, searching for another method of attack.
Smaug had none of it. His eyes seemed to burn as he hissed. "Enough playing about."
He inhaled deeply, deeper than Natsu had ever seen a dragon breathe. The younger dragon was instantly on guard. This is going to be huge.
"Rrrraaaahhhhhhh!"
From Smaug's great maw came a river of liquid fire, dousing Natsu in intense heat and molten lava.
Natsu was startled. He had known Smaug was a Fire Dragon like him, but what he didn't realize was exactly what he was.
The lava was weighing Natsu down and actually making his body get hot. The sensation of growing heat so that it became uncomfortable was new to him- and shocking.
Is he BURNING me?
He went into free fall and spun rapidly, trying to get the lava off of his body. As he came to a stop, Natsu saw that Smaug was inhaling deeply again, but this time his jaws faced the sky. Smaug's scales at his chest began to glow red with intense heat.
Smaug spat a huge sphere of molten energy straight up, where it exploded into a storm of meteor-like chunks of liquid volcanic rock. The barrage of lava bombs forced Lisanna and Mira further away to avoid getting hit.
Natsu took the full brunt of one of the volcanic meteors in his right flank, bellowing in pain at the explosive, devastating force.
Lisanna screeched in panic. "Natsu!"
He almost spiraled out of control and just managed to avoid getting hit by more of the bombs before regaining control of his flight. Below him, the remaining chunks of lava hit the ground with such explosive force that anywhere they landed was instantly incinerated. In seconds, the giant blast zone had left scars on the earth itself.
As he recovered from the shock and stared back up at Smaug, he found the giant drake studying him again. The air of power around Smaug was getting more and more intense as Natsu got a full look at the elder dragon.
Natsu was in awe of the titan above him. It's almost as if…
Lisanna gulped beside her sister. "It's like he's a living volcano…"
"A Volcanic Dragon?" Lucy whispered.
Mira stared at Smaug with a rare, intimidated gaze. This dragon…is almost surely even more powerful than Master is…The heat emanating from his body alone is so strong it's making the cool air all the way up here burn to where my throat is feeling dry…
Natsu bared his fangs. Even so…
He roared a challenge and lunged upwards.
Smaug dove down and met Natsu's rush head-on. At first, it looked as though they were in for another head smashing, but at the last second, Natsu corkscrewed around the larger dragon so he was above and behind him. Before Smaug could react, Natsu struck with his claws and slashed through the scales on the Volcanic Drake's battle-scarred neck.
I got him!
Without even flinching, Smaug flipped onto his back in midair, a breath attack already charged up. He unleashed a geyser of molten energy at Natsu, bathing the smaller dragon in the eruption-like breath.
Instead of trying to escape immediately, Natsu went for a daredevil attack and charged straight in. He plowed through the lava so he could strike at Smaug's exposed throat and belly. Even Smaug himself seemed briefly surprised that Natsu would try such a reckless attack, but the elder dragon grinned in satisfaction.
Not bad, boy.
He ceased the breath attack just before Natsu hit him, but right when it looked like the smaller fire dragon had a shot at inflicting some serious damage, Smaug threw a wild card. His right wing folded and rushed up to Natsu's throat, where the finger-like talons at the joint of his wing got a deadlock grip.
The unexpected maneuver caught him totally by surprise. Natsu flailed desperately to get free, but by this point they were a mere hundred feet off the ground. With a mighty roar, Smaug flipped them so he was hovering over the smaller dragon. His claws gripping Natsu's throat glowed iridescent orange and exploded with infernal energy the instant they crashed into the earth.
The sheer force of the impact made a crater in the ground, but Smaug's explosive strike burned the rock and earth around them charcoal black.
Natsu was pinned under Smaug's grip, stunned and immobilized. The elder dragon bellowed in his face, pinning the rest of Natsu's body with a huge foot on his chest. There was simply no way Natsu was going to get free from the Volcanic Drake now.
Still, all he did was growl in annoyance and avert his gaze. Even in such a bad spot, Natsu downright refused to just give up.
Smaug snorted and loosened his grip, knowing that the fight was over.
Above them, the three onlookers were in awe.
"Amazing…" Lucy gasped. "That was amazing…"
"Just how powerful is that dragon?" Lisanna wondered aloud.
Mira was nearly in shock. I've never seen a dragon fight like that. He can not only channel his affinity through a breath attack, but he can use magic to harness that power in other parts of his body?How? I never knew such a fighting style existed among dragons!
"Well." Smaug grunted. "At least you haven't become completely tamed. There may still be hope for you, yet."
Natsu avoided his gaze reluctantly.
"Stop pouting, boy." Smaug rebuked him with a cuff of his tail. "You're centuries too early to win against me anyway. I was just testing you to see if you were worth bringing back to Pri-mal."
As Natsu stood, he glanced up sharply. "Go back?"
Smaug snorted. "Yes. The entire reason I came out looking for you was to bring you back to the Flame Capitol. You've got no idea what a pain the other dragons have been since Igneel fell."
"Whoa, whoa, time out!"
That was Lucy as Lisanna and Mira approached the two drakes and landed. The blonde girl stayed on Lisanna's back so she could be noticed by the Volcanic Drake. "Natsu's been staying with us at the Fairy Tail Thunder in Magnolia. We should at least talk this over with Makarov first!"
"I have no interest in speaking with humans." Smaug rumbled.
Lisanna blinked. "But we're dragons."
The Volcanic Drake seemed to consider that, then rolled his shoulders in a giant shrug. "I suppose I should meet with the other dragons on this continent and see what they're like, anyway."
Lucy's cheek puffed up in irritation. "Geez…"
"Right." Mira decided. "Let's meet with Erza and the others, then we'll head back to Magnolia."
"Where in the seven hells did you find that monster?" Gray demanded.
Along with him, every single member of the investigation team (Not including Natsu) seemed very wary of the giant dragon Natsu had brought back. After reassuring them that Smaug was no threat, the situation was explained and the decision was made to return to the Thunder immediately.
Smaug, for the most part, simply studied the other dragons and took no heed of anything else.
"Well…" Erza eyed the huge drake in return and frowned. "Makarov is definitely going to want to hear about this. I'm sure he'll want to meet Smaug, as well. But he cannot bring harm to any of Magnolia's inhabitants. I need to be certain of that before I let him near the city."
Natsu glanced at Smaug, who rolled his eyes and replied lazily. "I swear on every violent death I have ever caused that I will not kill any living thing in the city you spoke of."
Gajeel grinned. "You know what? I like this guy."
"You would." Lucy muttered.
Layla gazed up at Smaug. "So you knew Igneel?"
"I did."
"Were you his friend?" she asked.
Smaug narrowed his eyes. "No. I fought with him and against him at times. But I don't believe I'd ever call him 'Friend'. That is a title I reserve for a handful of dragons."
"I see…" Layla murmured with a frown. She eventually shook her head as if to clear something from her mind and spoke to the dragon again. "I haven't introduced myself. My name is Layla Heartfilia. You've already met my daughter, Lucy."
"I do not care." he rumbled flatly.
Lucy glared at the huge dragon. Despite how much she would've liked to tell him off, she knew that he would either ignore her or incinerate her. Since neither option satisfied her, Lucy decided to simply pretend that the giant Volcanic Drake did not exist.
Erza raised an eyebrow at the exchange. "Well, let's get home. But first of all, why did you come here, Smaug?"
Smaug glanced at the Blade Dragonelle. "I came to find Natsu and bring him home. Eventually. It would seem he has much to learn before I deem him worthy of coming to the Flame Capitol. In fact, going there as he is now would likely get him killed within a matter of days, so I really have no choice other than to remain with him and teach him how to fight like a dragon should."
"I'm not THAT bad, y'know." Natsu growled. "I can't help it if you're damn near a hundred feet long and practically spit meteors. I just got to adult size, anyway."
"Excuses won't help you survive." Smaug retorted. "That's the first lesson I've given you. Such excellent progress."
"Brutal and sarcastic." Gajeel cackled. "This guy's a riot."
Lucy wasn't such a big fan and muttered at the Iron Drake. "Gajeel, are you in love?"
"Piss off, you runt."
"Okay, that's enough." Mira sighed. "Let's just get back to Fairy Tail, ok?"
Smaug's tail twitched at that. "Fairy…Tail?"
"It's the name of Magnolia's Dragon Thunder." Lisanna explained.
The Volcanic Drake's eyes narrowed. "Odd choice for a name…"
"You can hear about it all from Makarov." Erza suggested. "It looks like you'll be staying around for a while, so I suppose I should say this in place of all the dragons in our Thunder. Welcome, Smaug."
Smaug snorted out a cloud of black sulfur. "I'm grateful. I think…"